


GuardianSwap Act 2

by archaicGambit



Series: GuardianSwap [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, Minor Character Death, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-10
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-08 02:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archaicGambit/pseuds/archaicGambit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The raise of the Conductor's Baton.<br/>As each of the kids try and enter the game, circumstances become more dire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Apocalypse

Walkthrough by TentacleTyraness Hosted by Game FAQs 

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SBURB beta walkthrough Version 1.0, April 13, 2009 By TentacleTyraness

====================TABLE OF CONTENTS=================== 

1\. The Apocalypse………..[0000] 

2\. How to survive it………..[A000] 

======================================================= 

The Apocalypse

====================================================== 

Well, fuckers, here it is. I’m not going to copyright any of this trite or bullshit. My introduction will be sparse, and you’re just going to have to deal. There isn’t going to be any setting the stage or dimming the lights or calling out to the stage crew to get their hands off each other and get to fucking work. The mood is probably already set for you, if you’re reading this. Chances are you have installed this game on your computer. If so, congrats. You are cordially invited to the ‘I participated in the cause of the end of the world’ party. Try not to feel too cripplingly terrible for our shared genocide. None of us could have prevented it.

Maybe even if we all hadn’t played the meteors would still rain down. The end is happening for us all as I type and you read and we cling to the hope that we will be among those who manage to flee. The game, while it seals the crypt of our beloved planet, gives it’s players the chance to survive. I too am in the same conundrum. My own outcome is far from assured. I will play the game, and record my findings here for as long as I can manage. If you wish to live, follow my goddamn instructions.

Best wishes,

TT


	2. Act 2 pt 1: YOU THERE, GIRL

GIRL ==>

The sprite sheds its kernel half, transforming it back into something similar to your original clown.  It’s significantly more blue and ghosty now.

For a moment you could’ve swore you heard someone say “GIRL,” in the periphery of your awareness. It didn’t sound like your father and it couldn’t have been the sprite.

==>

You look around the house to assess the damage. Rose really did a number on it, and even then the transport to wherever this place is. There are ooze splatters in places and it’s freezing.

Outside the windows, you can see an icy wasteland. Downstairs, you look in the kitchen for your Dad. Dad is nowhere to be seen, which unnerves you. You're also a little thankful. Although you saved him and the house, you feel kind of guilty about uprooting everything to... wherever this place is.

You feel like Dorothy in reverse... instead of moving from a land of black and white to technicolor, you moved from your boring albeit coloured neighborhood to a land where everything so far as the eye can see is essentially white.

The sprite, which you still cannot understand, follows you around the house. You can sort of hear giggling in the distance,  _and_ sometimes you hear someone shouting ‘YOU. THE JADE GIRL.’

You wonder if you are going crazy.

You trudge back up to your (wrecked) bedroom. Rose has probably tried to contact you again by now, to make sure you’re okay.

YES. RESPOND TO YOUR FRIEND UNIT ==>

TT: Jade?

TT: Jade please tell me you’re there.

TT: Please tell me you survived.

\--TentacleTyraness [TT] is now an idle chum! –

GG: oh god im not dead rose!

TT: After I wrote that I was able to reconnect.

TT: I’ve just sort of been watching you scramble around your house.

TT: That wasn’t meant to sound creepy, sorry.

GG: its okay

GG: i was looking for my dad

GG: he appears to have gone missing im kinda worried

GG: have you seen him?

TT: I’m afraid not.

TT: We have more important things to address, however.

GG: you mean like what this icy place is?

GG: was i transported to the artic or something?

TT: I don’t think so.

TT: I’ve determined your neighborhood was destroyed by the meteor that hit the site of your house.

TT: Wherever you are now saved you and your father.

TT: I’ve been looking at the news, it’s happening all over. The meteors seem to be getting bigger.

GG: wooow

GG: this game is pretty serious.

GG: does it want us to save the world?

TT: That’s a possibility, I suppose.

GG: then lets get going!!

TT: I suggest you retrieve your PDA and investigate.

TT: I’d like to figure out how to replenish our grist.

==>

While you figure out the game, you get compelled to do all these odd things. As though that weird voice is commanding you.

Creepy.

You and Rose figure out some basic things about the alchemiter. You just know she’s writing them down in her walkthroughs. Rose certainly likes telling people what to do!

Finish prototyping the sprite==>

Rose attempts putting Sassacre in the spirte, but the tricky fiend dodges, knocking the book into the mantle, which knocks over the ashes of your BELOVED NANNA into the sprite.

==>

You look around, wondering what became of her ashes.

At this point, your PDA acts up again, and you are DISTRACTED.

==>

TG: yo jade im working on some new jams wanna listen

GG: thats great i have to go ive got some serious business going on okay?

TG: oh

TG: thats cool i guess

TG: theres some weird shit going on in the news 

TG: so just stay safe

TG: i guess

GG: thanks for understanding

GG: ill listen to your music when I have time

GG: I promise!

TG: yeah okay whatevs

TG: do whatcha gotta do  


==>

You regret having to ditch a conversation with Dave, but you are honestly really busy.

Rose lifts your dad’s car up to the balcony so you can get the game out of it. It’s pretty wrecked, and /holy shit/ it is cold outside.

You are low on build grist, you think. It might not be enough to move the car.

==>

As you assert this, the car falls into an icy chasm.

Goddamnit.

Someone else is pestering you. Why are you such a popular girl when you’re so busy? Urgh.

==>

GT: i'm back!

GT: i was trying to investigate this explosion I heard out on the island.

GG: meteor

GT: it was a meteor like one of my movies!

GT: oh.

GT: how did you know?

GG: it doesnt matter.

GG: im going to assume youre okay though??

GT: it landed across the island.

GT: bec won’t let me go near it though.

GT: what a party pooper.

GT: have you at least gotten my package yet?

GG: well it was in my dads car which rose dropped so im gonna have to go find it again

GG: there was a meteor falling near my house too

GG: except it fell on my house!

GG: well where my house used to be :(

GG: it destroyed my neighborhood!!! Now I think I have to save the world????

GT: we do,

GT: as a team.

GT: it'd be pretty foolish for one person to try and save the world all by themselves.  


GT: that's basically the lesson of all my favourite movies.  


GG: speaking of which- there’s a meteor coming towards roses apartment as well

GG: i cant connect to her game

GG: can you??

GT: haha like id want anything to do with her

GT: i don’t know why you guys insist on being friends with her.

GT: honestly she scares me.

GT: once she rapped at me.

GT: it was horrible

GT: i might still be scarred by the experience.  


GG: fiiiiine!!

GG: ill ask dave

==>

GG: dave my man

GG: dave my man who has all his stuff together

GG: please tell me you have your copy of sburb

TG: uh

TG: yeah

TG: why

GG: i need you to connect to rose!

TG: i dunno i thought we had a connection but shes so hard to read

TG: oh

TG: nevermind

TG: yeah I can get on that I guess

TG: come in and save the day

TG: if my power stays on

GG: you should also read through her walkthroughs

GG: to get up to speed.

TG: i dunno

TG: ive seen her writing before

TG: its kinda morbid

TG: cute sometimes  


TG: clever most of the time  


TG: but mostly morbid  


GG: daaavee

TG: see what I do for you guys

==>

A young man stands in his bedroom. Due to a violent storm, his house has just lost power, along with his wireless internet connection. It’s lucky he wasn’t the server player to a particularly spunky young lady who happens to be in kind of a dilemma, or she would be in dire need right now. Oh wait. Never mind. She’s probably going to die. This young man is named…

Named…

It’s on the tip of your tongue, it really is.

What was the name of this young man again?

Enter name ==>

Insufferable prick

Cute shipping references aside, you really have to name this character ==>

Dave Lalonde

Looks like you’ve got the hang of it! Congrats.

Examine Room ==>

Your name is DAVE LALONDE. As previously mentioned, you are currently lacking electricity, which is leaving you without LIGHT. Your Laptop computer still has battery power, though, so you should be okay. You have a variety of INTERESTS. You have a passion for (ACTUALLY NOT AS OBSCURE AS YOU LIKE TO THINK) MUSIC. You also enjoy playing your own music and mixing your own SWEET JAMS on the turntable your mother got you. Using your limited drawing skills, you make PURPOSEFULLY SHITTY COMICS because they make your mom laugh. You know she has problems so cheering her up has always made you feel like you’re doing something constructive with your life. You have a fondness for WIZARDS which you share with your mom. You’re pretty good at PHOTOGRAPHY: your purposefully bad and purposefully amazing photos are hung around your room. You also write SOMEWHAT DECENT poetry, but you’re secretive about this because of it’s EMBARASSING NATURE. You’ve been called a HIPSTER and a DORK but really you just think of yourself as a dude making his way in the world. You know some of the things you like are silly, but knowing that makes you more mature and all-round cooler, right? On occasion, you like to play videogames with your friends.

What will you do?

Dave, retrieve arms from box ==>

What box? That box? Hahahaha no. Remember that poetry we were talking about?

Dave, examine posters ==>

You're still working on the best arrangement of your many posters. Right now your poster of the Great A'Tuin takes up the center of the rooms space. The Great A'Tuin is the base of DISCWORLD, a magical world where a lot of shenanigans happen to long-bearded wizards and seemingly unextraordinary boys who just need to be discovered.

Your mom read these books to you as a kid, and so you have a bit of a NOSTALGIC love for them. Needless to say, you would not be surprised if the universe was actually some sort of animal that spends half it's time in the water and half on land.

Dave, sample some sweet jams ==>

That’s something you can get behind! There’s this one you’ve been working on where you mix cello with dubstep and it sounds really great… you were probably supposed to be doing something else. Weren’t you?

Dave, Look out the window ==>

Your panoramic window offers a view of the sprawling forests of Rainbow Falls. Did you mention you basically lived on a Nature Reservation. This is mostly to do with how successful and rich your mother is. Actually, it’s entirely to do with that.

What is clearest, through the rain is your yard, and the mausoleum housing your dead cat, JASPERS, who died when you were young. Your mom went all out on the funeral you innocently asked for. You thought it was cool at the time but sometimes you wonder about your mom and the quality of her decisions.

You can also make out a silhouette of the LABORATORY next door, a facility which likely broadcasts a strong WIRELESS INTERNET SIGNAL. You may be able to connect to the signal from a different part of the house.

The observatory seems like the best shot to you.

Dave: get laptop ==>

You incorporate your laptop into your CLEF SYLLADEX. Objects are organized based off of weight. Lighter objects are higher notes. Your laptop is a solid middle C.

Dave, go explore the house ==>

You leave your bedroom.

Next to the door in the hallways is a painting of a RAD AS HELL wizard. You and your mom collect these WONDERFULLY SHITTY things IRONICALLY. They are just so hilarious.

Down the hall to the right is the way to the OBSERVATORY. Perhaps you will be able to connect from up there? Your mother’s room is also in that direction. She’s a little inebriated right now, and you don’t exactly want to be around her.

You approach a juncture in the hallway, leading you down to the large front room, or to the right- the observatory.

You walk by some more HILARIOUSLY FRIVILOUS wizard paintings. Goddamn you love these things. Just like you love your silly mom. You don’t know what you’d do if something terrible happened to her. Probably have a mental breakdown or something.

You reach a door at the end of the hall.

Dave, go through door ==>

The door opens to an exterior walkway leading to the observatory entrance.

You’d say it’s raining cats and dogs, but the cliché never really made sense to you. More like it’s raining fucking icicles and bullets. Goddamn the things you do for your friends.

You quickly close the door into the observatory and shiver for a moment. It really shouldn’t be this cold in april.

Dave: Try to connect! ==>

You hum a middle C to get your laptop out of your sylladex. It drops into your hands.

Dave: Check out that telescope. ==>

Through a gap in the clouds, you see a flurry of smaller meteoroids. Shit’s getting serious. You shouldn’t let it distract you from your mission though.

Dave, connect to Wifi ==>

You choose the conveniently unsecure LAB0413 to connect to, and try to connect with Rose...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All art is done by me, besides the images of the lalonde household straight from MSPA.  
> The images on Dave's posters are of the bands: Bike for Three!, Mumford & Sons, and The WOMBATS. His other poster is of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.


	3. Act 2 part 2:The raise of the Conductor's Baton

==>

Your pesterchum icon is flashing. Maybe it’s her.

Dave, answer chum ==>

\--ghostyTrickster [GT] began pestering tetrahertzgodhead [TG] –

TG: hey bro

TG: sup

GT: we can’t play this game with rose.

TG: why

TG: why would we not play with rose

TG: i dunno what you heard man but this game is kinda life or death

TG: id like for all my friends to survive

GT: so she's just your friend now?

TG: man why do i trust you with my personal buiz

TG: okay yeah i think shes a BAMF and kinda hot

TG: but that doesnt mean shes not my friend

TG: if i didnt appreciate her as a person first thatd make me a huge douche

GT: perfect

GT: because she's a huge bitch!

GT: you’d go together perfectly!!

TG: i dont get your issue man

TG: im sure youll find something in common

TG: maybe while we play this game

TG: which i am playing

TG: with rose

TG: AND you

TG: because you are both my friends

TG: who are nice to talk to and a shitton of fun and just really great

TG: thats my final say on this

GT: you’re going to regret it, dave.

TG: yeah

TG: somehow i doubt that

Meanwhile, in the past ==>

You are slouching aggressively at your computer, waiting to talk with arguably your best friend Jade. It’s her birthday today and you’d really like to wish her a happy birthday first. Because she’s amazing and deserves it. You know you’re just sort of one of her internet chums but Jade really means a lot to you. Besides the fact that she’s pretty and comfortable around other people and good at socializing: essentially everything you’re not. Sometimes you’re not sure whether you want to be Jade or kiss Jade.

Probably the latter.

It looks like someone’s pestering you besides Jade.

Rose: answer chum ==>

\--ghostyTrickster [GT] began pestering tentacleTyraness [TT] –

GT: rose.

TT: To what do I owe the extraordinary pleasure of speaking to notable adventurer and prankster, John Harley?

TT: I was under the impression you weren’t particularly fond of conversing with me outside of the chats with our shared acquaintances.

GT: I’m sure you’re feeling really cool.

GT: rad girl or whatever you’re going for I guess.

GT: I just wanted to know if you’ve talked to jade today.

TT: I’m afraid not.

TT: it is a bit earlier for her than here.

TT I think perhaps, it’s quite early for you as well.

TT: Hmm.

GT: hmm what?

TT: Oh, nothing. I merely made an observation that I found amusing.

TT: I doubt you’d enjoy it.

TT: What do you want with Jade?

GT: just to wish her a happy birthday and ask about her package.

GT: I mean she’s going to loose it anyways.

GT: and find it when she needs it.

TT: Why exactly are you informing me of this?

GT: good point

GT: I’m going to go feed bec.

==>

You roll your eyes so aggressively they might go backwards into your skull. John is a complete pain. He always talks about just _knowing_ things in the future, specifically to you, as though he’s egging you on with this special ability.

You don’t understand why he does this. Or why it makes you so angry that you think he can see through time. Probably fake magic anyways. You’d like to believe in magic. You’d like to admit to an only semi-ironic love of wizards, but the world doesn’t work that way.

Rose: get phone ==>

You do just that. You have a feeling it’ll be important for people to get a hold of you while you’re mobile for awhile. Lucky you own this sweet iphone. You’re so cool.

JADE GIRL, CHECK YOUR ROOM FOR THE MYSTERIOUS BLUE BEING ==>

Back in the present, you are searching for the sprite that sort of disappeared.

Your PDA and your computer are both reacting to a message you’re getting from one of your chums. Better answer.

==>

TT: Do you think Dave is alright?

TT: I’m waiting to connect and get in the game.

TT: For being so persistent he sure is making me wait.

GG: Well get you in! itll be fine!

GG: trust me ive got everything under control

TT: I suppose this is why you’re our leader.

GG: im not your leader

GG: im your friend!

GG: john said we just all had to work together

TT: I bet he’s jealous of you.

GG: what are you doing while youre waiting?

TT: I’m just in the living room.

TT: My brother is usually here, but he seems to be out right now.

TT: he’s always pulling this faux-ninja shit on me.

TT: Demanding to strife on the roof.

TT: I’ve beaten him multiple times. I don’t know why he keeps insisting.

TT: But Cal is here, so I suppose he can’t be far.

TT: I’m sure he’ll be in the house when we enter the game.

GG: can I be honest?

GG: your bros ventriloquist rapping whatever really unnerves me

TT: He doesn’t mean any harm by it.

TT: He just rather fancies puppets.

TT: I’m sure you know what I mean if you’ve seen his livelihood.

GG: erm no

GG: should I have?

TT: Probably not.

GG: I guess ill read through your walkthroughs and stuff while im waiting.

Jade, turn around! ==>

Fine, you’ll turn around. You didn’t have to feel so alarmed at the instinct- oh my god it’s a monster!

Chemicalkind is a very difficult strife weapon to wield.

Sometimes when you hold a substance too close to you, you as well as the monster are knocked unconscious.

Dave: Exit ==>

The observatory wifi is fragile. You’re not getting a stable connection to any of your friends. You walk back outside, all of your possessions capatchaloged, and are aggrieved by a torrent of rain.

You wonder if this rain will ever let up. It’s driven since the start of the month, long enough to forget why it’s pelting you like a massive douchebag. It’s not even putting out the damn fire. Seriously dude, if you’re gonna stick around all month you could at least put out the freaky-ass fire that might ravage your house before you can save Rose. That’d be really bad. omewhere a zealous god threads these strings between the clouds and the earth, preparing for a symphony it fears impossible to play. And so it threads on, and on, delaying the raise of the conductor's baton.  
Spring is a hella shitty season.

==>

Soaked, you head back into the hall, and towards the main room.

==>

You prepare to descend the stairs into your living room. You stand eye to eye with your favourite dude, a 20-foot tall granite statue of the mighty wizard, Zazzerpan the Learned- the inspiration for your hilarious comics. Your mother had him installed through a hole in the roof with a heavy duty crane. You think it was a good investment.  
Guests to your house are usually unnerved by his aloof, glassen eyes.

You and your mom privately high-five when you freak people out. The two of you are a wizard-loving team. She’s the brains and you’re the operative. That is, when she’s feeling well.

She hasn’t been feeling so great lately.

==>

You walk down into the kitchen and notice liquor open on the counter. You wonder if you should try hiding it again or something. You don’t get why your mom feels like she needs this stuff when she’s so great and smart.

Dave, exit the house ==>

Not wanting to confront your mom, you leave through the back door.

Nearby is the TRANSFORMER which distributes electricity from the UNDERGROUND GENERATOR powered by the river flowing beneath your house.

The transformer was struck by lightning though, and no longer works. You wonder if your mother has any plans to have it fixed. She’s probably not in a good state to think about it.

  
You can see the MAUSOLEUM and the PORTABLE GENERATOR across your back yard. You're almost there.

Dave, use umbrella! ==>

You’re afraid you don’t have an umbrella. You do have a jacket with a hood and a scarf tucked away in your deck though.

Dave, use jacket and scarf! ==>

You hum the E sharp that the jacket lies on, but not the A that’ll give you the scarf. That scarf was made for you by someone you really admire. You’d hate to see it ruined, even if she doesn’t care that much about knitting herself.

You pull the jacket around your shoulders and begin the soggy trek towards the mausoleum.

JADE, WAKE UP! ==>

You wake up in your room and find the imp replaced with what looks like a cross between blue gushers and crystals. You find that when you pick up these crystals, they disappear, not into your strife deck, but into your game register. You guess this build stuff is what Rose was burning out earlier.

Your victory over the imp is rewarded with 125 boondollars! The limit for how much of this grist stuff you can have has also grown.

Rose will probably be pleased to hear about this when she gets back to you.

Dave: hurry up and activate the generator! ==>

==>

It's pretty easy to fire up the generator. You drag the cord into the tiny mauseoleum and sit down, using your jacket as a cushion.

Dave: use your cushion as a cushion==>

Oh, that's right. You have one capatachloged. Sometimes you can forget stuff. Jeez, you know you're not perfect.

You try a B sharp, but hit A instead. the scarf comes tumbling out. You go a tad flatter and get the note your were looking for.

The couch cushion is nice and plush on the dirty mausoleum floor. You tenderly wrap the scarf around your neck, careful not to touch anything, and think of the girl who made it. John gave her the needles, why couldn't he see that she'd made something good of it? You really wish your best freinds didn't hate each other.

Dave, hurry up and make space for your laptop! ==>

Sorry jaspers. This feels really wrong okay. You hope jaspers knows you’re still best bros.

You push jaspers off the raised platform, and accidentally knock over the lid. His empty smile and his tin, custom-tailored suit are revealed.

At least he’s smiling.

Dave, plug in your laptop ==>

You sit down comfortably on your cushion, and open the laptop. Rose has been trying to talk to you for awhile, you notice with a stab of guilt.

==>

TT: So Jade said you weren’t doing quite so well.

TT: Have you gotten a signal yet?

TT: Is your house burning down?

TG: yeah it is im tragically dying in this fire

TG: if you have any simmering feelings or last words please say them

TT: You’re hilarious, Lalonde.

TG: aw yeah that was a great confession

TG: i can die happy now

TG: ive done my best at least im a funny guy

TT: Well, I’ll just sit in my living room and wait for my untimely demise surrounded by puppets.

TG: oh yeah I forgot your bro collects puppets

TG: to each his own i guess

TT: Have any of you actually seen his sites?

TG: well no

TG: never really thought about it

TG: i mean my mom collects wizards and thats pretty cool youre not going to judge her right

TT: I don’t really know or care about your mother, Dave.

TG: sometimes i have weird dreams about em though

TG: like zazzerpan is my man but

TG: he has these glassy eyes and this empty stare and it reminds me of something really distant I cant place it.

TT: Interesting…

TG: why did i just tell you that

TT: I’m currently scrawling notes furiously into one of the many notebooks I keep to measure your psychological state.

TT: Because, you know, it's not like either of us have anything better to do at the moment than to evaluate each other's radically debilitating pathologies.

TG: hint taken

TG: im gonna save you from the meteors

TG: prince charming all up in this bitch

TT: Very tasteful of you.

TG: uh sorry

TG: no but i got this dont worry


	4. Act 2 pt 3: Earth is done for, I'm afraid.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade discovers her long-lost relative, and Dave has a birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of exposition: much of Nannasprite's explination of the medium is copied from MSPA.  
> If you already feel confident about remembering the mechanics of the game, feel free to skip! If you need a referesher, that's the point of this chapter.

Rose, check on Jade==>

Jade seems to be standing in her room, confused. You’re wondering what exactly is bothering her.

Be Jade ==>

Something is out of place, you just can’t tell what. Your eyebrows furrow as you scan your room.

Go through the door and check the hall==>

That’s it! Your door. Rose had to take it out and it was on the bed but now it’s slightly ajar. Hmm. You decide it’s a good idea anyways.

You open the door and a bucket comes crashing down on your head. You yelp and fall backwards in surprise, and from beyond the bucket, you hear laughing.

Sore, you take the bucket off your head and throw it onto the bed. The laughing has faded out. Obviously this place is driving you mad.

There it is, behind you.

Jade, turn around ==>

Using your bed as leverage, you stand up, turn around and- _oh_.

Jade, Meet your Nanna==>

JADE: hello??

NANNASPRITE: Hello, dear!

JADE: you terrified me!

NANNASPRITE: hoo hoo hoo!

JADE: it was a really great prank but wow…

JADE: are you really nanna come back to life?

NANNASPRITE: Of course, Jade! I’ve come back to help you on your quest through the medium. I’m delighted to see what a fine young woman you’ve become. You remind me so much of myself at your age.

JADE: oh wow

JADE: thanks nanna

JADE: um do you know where dad is?

JADE: you probably want to talk to him just as much as I do.

==>

NANNASPRITE: Jade, dear, your father has been kidnapped!

NANNASPRITE: It happened while you were sleeping.

NANNASPRITE: Now that you’ve awoken the medium, forces of darkness are stirring.

JADE: so you mean this place

JADE: this arctic wasteland is actually a medium full of evil monsters

JADE: like the imp I fought?

NANNASPRITE: Yup! Hoo hoo hoo!

NANNASPRITE: It is where we are now! A realm that is a ring of pure void, dividing light and darkness. It turns in the thick of The Incipisphere, a place untouched by the flow of time in your universe.

JADE: so we’re inside the game, like, inside the software or my computer?

NANNASPRITE: A computer? Why, what is that, dear? Some new fangled contraption, like the horseless auto-boxcar?

JADE: no nanna a computer is a machine that-

NANNASPRITE: I was just pulling your leg, dearie. I know what a computer is.

NANNASPRITE: and to answer your question, we’re not inside one. The software is merely a gateway. Try not to think so linerarly.

JADE: so this land existed before I came here

NANNASPRITE: You may be getting ing.

JADE: im not sure

JADE: what exactly am I meant to be doing here?

NANNASPRITE: lets look at the big picture first

==>

Nanna explains Skaia to you, that it is a battlefield, a realm of dark and light, good vs evil. However, they are bound in an eternal stalemate. The only thing that will change that is your interference.

ME?? ==>

JADE: me??

NANNASPRITE: yes, deary!

NANNASPRITE: Before your mishap with my ashes, you may recall the Sprite's previous incarnation, which resulted from its Kernel's "hatching".  
NANNASPRITE: You see, this hatching occurs automatically in response to your arrival! The result is a pair of Kernels, one dark, one light, each carrying the information they were prototyped with before the hatch!  
NANNASPRITE: One goes down, to a kingdom entrenched in darkness. The other, up, to a kingdom basking in light! Each comes to rest in an Orb atop a Spire, of which there are three others in kind. The Four Spires are situated above a throne, and these two thrones preside over the two respective Sovereign Powers!  
NANNASPRITE: And once the Kernels are situated, that is when the game is afoot. The true war begins, light versus dark, good versus evil.  
NANNASPRITE: This is a war that the forces of light are always destined to lose, without exception! 

Jade: Really? Then what’s the point of playing?

NANNASPRITE: That’s up for you to decide dear. That is, quite simply, the UTIMATE RIDDLE!

NANNASPRITE: For now, your objective is to proceed towards Skaia, and pass through The First Gate situated directly above your house, not even terribly far! The Gates will become progressively more difficult to reach, so you had better be prepared to sharpen your adventuring skills!  
  
JADE: how am i supposed to get up there?  
  
NANNASPRITE: You build!

JADE: so if I have everything straight

JADE:  im not supposed to participate in this battle of good and evil

JADE: rose and I are just supposed to build the house to get to these gates and then I can save dad!

NANNASPRITE: You’ve got it!

JADE: and then we save the earth!

NANNASPRITE: Oh no sweetie.

NANNASPRITE: Earth is done for, I’m afraid.

NANNASPRITE: Your purpose will be much more important than saving just your planet.

NANNASPRITE: HOO HOO HOO!

NANNASPRITE: I’d love to tell you but I can’t yet!

NANNASPRITE: I think I’ll go bake some cookies, you’ve been such a good girl listening to my stories.

Be Rose ==>

You take a moment to contemplate NannaSprite’s tale, while recording the basics in your GameFAQs Walkthrough/Journal. It’s hard to find time to write them.

Years in the future….. ==>

Years in the future, a small carpaced man commands Jade in the present through the keyboard. The reader is familiar with this warm and inspiring creature, and due to the fact that his brave nature has not changed in this universe, his sections will be breezed over. However, he is still a strong and beautiful character, heralding the light of democracy.

==>

===================================================================

The Sprite & The Medium

===================================================================

I must now note that prototyping the kernel is of the upmost important to optimize your chance of survival. The first prototyping should be generic, loosely humanoid in shape, because the second is best sentient, even if deceased. The sprite has the miraculous ability to raise the dead. My client player has brought her grandmother back to life using her ashes.

The Sprite, if sentient, will likely be forcefully cryptic or mysterious. If you have already uselessly prototyped your sprite, I offer up some data garnered from my client players.

The Sprite:

There are different effects when prototyping before and after departure to the medium. If before, the medium’s low-level enemies (and possibly higher tiers) will be affected by this decision. This is because of the kernel’s “Hatching,” which seemed to me to be more of a severing. Those occurring after only affect the sprite. This is why I suggest prototyping the living element second.

The framework of the game seems fairly fluid at the moment, and will likely evolve when we finish our player/client connections and have all available prototyped kernels.

I am curious as to the effects of a double-protyped kernel pre-entry, however I do not suggest experimentation due to the nature of the game.

This raises questions about the medium: do all suriving players make it to the same medium, or is a new instance created for each player chain? I am currently of the theory that sessions are separate. If you have reached an incinsiphere, please share in the comments.

The number of players may make the game more difficult, as reaching the mediu

[Go back and write more about medium]

 

Rose is obviously not finished with this! You should bug someone else, or somewhen else at least.

==>

Months in the past, but not many:

==>

GT: hi, happy birthday dave!!

TG: aw thanks man

GT: did you get jades present yet?

TG: yeah shes pretty sweet

TG: howd you know

GT: I can’t tell you!

GT: what sort of magician reveals his tricks?

TG: okay dude

TG: still its kinda creepy when you know things like that

TG: so am I getting a green package as well

GT: sorry there aren’t many places to shop over here.

GT: but I have something else for you!

GT: it’s a tip.

TG: a tip

TG: bro im gonna be honest that’s kinda lame

TG: this had better not be some sort of fashion tip or youll live longer if you do this because if you say that I will walk away from this laptop right now

GT: no it’s a better tip than that.

GT: did you have a pet a long time ago that died?

TG: yeah

TG: I told you.

TG: my cat jaspers

TG: he and I were tight as kids

TG: the fucking cutest kitten the world will ever see

GT: what if I told you there was a game you could play that would bring him back?

TG: well id be pretty skeptical about that

TG: whats the game

TG: is it a satanic ritual

GT: no nothing like that.

GT: I think you’ll hear it later and you can talk to the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we'll get to some Rose Strider vs Bro Strider action. It promises to be exciting.  
> Thank you for following through this AU if you've read it from the beginning.


	5. Act 2 pt 4: Time is dead kids.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose Strider searches for her copy of the beta within her estranged household.

Rose: finish walkthrough and get Katana ==>

You decide to leave the walkthrough for now, and capatchalog your shitty katana off the wall. You need to find your client copy of the game before a meteor like the one that hit Jade barrels down on your house and leaves you dead.

Time is dead kids, after all, and you haven’t got a lot of it.

==>

Capatchaloging your katana makes your iphone shoot out of your fetch/stack modus- you hadn’t even noticed it was full.

_Shit._ It crashes into a preserved octopus, which subsequently falls off its position on the shelf and onto the floor.

Your room now stinks of formaldehyde.

With a sigh, you move your katana to your strife deck, your somehow-still-intact iphone to your pocket, and your dead octopus to your deck. The formaldehyde that’s stained the carpet doesn’t capatchalog, but at least most of the glass does.

Rose, look out the window ==>

You don't even know what's up with this sick heat. The sun threatens to set but won't step off. It's staring you down, like the big red eye of a hot needle skipping on a groove its tracing 'round the earth. While lingering in midair its heat seems to suspend time itself, stretching it like warped vinyl. It's meant to rain this season but there ain't been a drop in sight. Dave said there’s been a lot of rain in New York.

It’s funny, how sometimes when you see the sun you think of him.

Rose: exit your room, and go to the living room ==>

You leave your room, and enter the cramped hallway. A puppet hangs from the ceiling as though it actually belongs as a decoration and you take this as a lurid affront by your Brother. Honestly, he wonders why you’ve never had friends over. Mostly it’s because your only real friends are online, but it’s also a little because you’d be embarrassed to show this erotic puppet temple to anyone with half a brain.

Rose: hastily enter the room with wild abandon ==>

As though you would do such a rancorous thing when you are trying to be covert.

Ah, a familiar face.

==>

You stand in the living room. Your BRO spends most of his days in here. At night he crashes on the FUTON over there. You don't see him anywhere though.  
There's the PUPPET CHEST he stores LIL' CAL in when he takes him out on gigs. But when he's home he usually leaves CAL on display somewhere.

You know somewhere deep inside you that Cal is evil.

You’ve just yet to prove it to your brother, who thinks your suspicion is one of PARANOIA and probably caused by your science fiction books, in which a surprising number of objects are possessed.

You’ll prove it to him someday.

Rose: pity da fool ==>

Ah yes, your Brother’s Mr. T puppet, which is of course kept on display with a profound sense of irony- a tribute to an outdated joke which is also part of the joke and so-forth. You and your brother silently compete in satirical strife, each trying to outdo the other. As with your actual strifes, you have actually beaten him once or twice on occasion.

Mr. T is also wearing a thong and handcuffed to a Chuck Norris puppet.

Part of you is afraid it isn’t very ironic, and like you trying to cover up the lameness of your sci-fi monsters, your brother is trying to cover up his homoerotic puppet-fantasies.

You should probably stop psychoanalyzing your family, and go back to remembering y’all be dope as hell.

Yeah.

Rose: find little Cal and give him a fistbump ==>

As if! The puppet is evil! You already mentioned that.

Fine then just play that sweet x-box ==>

Urgh. You are _trying_ to save the lives of yourself, your guardian, and all his blatantly homosexual puppets!

Okay, by all means, go on. You don’t have to have such a temper about it. ==>

Oh god it’s Cal.

Hi, Cal. We chill today? Yeah. You’re so chill and relaxed all the time Cal.

I’m so glad we can be friends.

Give Cal a fistbump ==>

Fine, if the gesture is to keep the peace between residents of the house during this tumultuous time, then so be it.

You still don’t like that puppet.

Rose: check out your Bro’s cool, sweet gear ==>

Sure, you suppose. Might as well look around here with all this overpriced junk and ironically swagged-up puppet-posters for the Beta.

Rose: look at your brother’s computer ==>

He changes it weekly, but you can always figure out the password.

He knows this, and you know this.

It’s a gentleman’s agreement, you suppose.

==>

He uses the application ‘complete bullshit’ to run his many ironic websites that fund your lifestyle.

This is the most disgusting web browser you have ever seen.

Just look at the text and the way the tabs are set up.

Its so beautifully ironic, it almost brings a tear to your eye, or rather, it would if you weren’t so very cool.

Coolkids don’t cry unless something truly awesome and worthy comes along, and then they might shed one single tear.

Rose, mouse over the orange tab containing Plush Rump ==>

Smuppets, despite all odds are a multi-billion dollar industry and your main source of income. Your brother manages and makes the puppets mostly by himself.

Sometimes you think his websites are funny, but they’re not actually your cup of tea.

The beta isn’t here: look elsewhere ==>

Oh.

Um, hello Cal.

Rose: give Cal a nervous fistbump ==>

You’d really prefer not to. The puppet might actually think you like him, with two fistbumps in the same five minutes.

Rose: pester Jade to ease your nerves ==>

You can’t actually see her on your screen, but it helps to talk.

TT: Hey so I still can’t find either of the client editions of the Beta.

TT: I’m totally not worried though.

TT: So you keep killing monsters girl you go.

TT: Also I’m going to deploy the PunchDesignX in your dad’s study.

TT: Okay?

TT: Okay.

TT: Great talk. Go team Stri-Bert.

TT: Haha Stribert it’s almost like we got married and merged last names.

TT: Just ignore that.

TT: So I’m going to try and update the walkthrough and everything.

TT: Yeah.

TT: I’m sure you’ve also seen the monsters by now.

TT: But a clever girl like you can deal with them!

GG: stupid lousy imps.  
GG: they're mucking up all my cool stuff!  
TT: Oh, there you are.   
GG: sorry!

TT: Well I should get back to looking for the game.

TT: before my untimely doom.


End file.
